will you please turn to the gospel according
to john the gospel according to john chapter
one we read from verse 19 to
verse 34 the gospel according to john chapter
1 verse 19 and this is the witness
of john when the Jews sent from Jerusalem
priests and Levites that they might ask him
thou who art thou and he acknowledged and
denied not and acknowledged I'm not the Christ
and they asked him what then art thou
Elijah and he says I'm not art thou
the prophet and he answered no they said
therefore to him who art thou that we
may give an answer to those who send
us what sayest thou of thyself and he
said I am the voice of one crying
in the wilderness make straight the path of
the Lord as said Isaiah the prophet and
as they were sent from among the Pharisees
and they asked him and said to him
why baptizes thou then if thou art not
the Christ not Elijah not the prophet John
answered them saying I baptize with water but
in the midst of you stands whom you
do not know he who comes after me
the form of whose spindle I'm not worthy
to unloose these things took place in Bethany
across the Jordan where John was baptizing on
the morrow he sees Jesus coming to him
and says behold the Lamb of God who
takes away the sin of the world he
is of whom I said a man comes
after me who takes a place before me
because he was before me and I knew
him not but that he might be manifested
to Israel therefore have I come baptizing with
water and John bore witness saying I beheld
the spirit descending as a dove from heaven
and it abode upon him and I knew
him not but he who sent me to
baptize with water he said to me upon
home thou shalt see the spirit descending and
abiding on him he it is for baptizes
with the Holy Spirit and I have seen
and born witness that this is the son
of God chapter 3 John chapter 3 verse
22 after these things came Jesus and his
disciples into the land of Judea and there
he abode with them and baptized and John
also was baptizing in Enon near Salem because
there was a great deal of water there
and they came to him and were baptized
for John was not yet cast into prison
there was therefore a reasoning of the disciples
of John with a Jew about purification and
they came to John and said to him
Rabbi he who was with thee beyond the
Jordan to whom thou bearest witness behold he
baptizes and all come to him John answered
and said a man can receive nothing unless
it be given him out of heaven he
yourselves barely witnessed and I said I'm not
the Christ but that I'm sent before him
he that has the bride is the bridegroom
but a friend of the bridegroom who stands
and hears him rejoices in heart because of
the voice of the bridegroom this my joy
then is fulfilled he must increase but I
must decrease may we look to the Lord
in prayer our Heavenly Father how we praise
and thank thee through the blood of our
Lord Jesus and by the new and living
way that he has opened for us through
his flesh we have this access we have
this holy boldness to approach thy throne of
grace and there we find our Lord Jesus
as our great high priest making intercession for
us that he might save us to the
uttermost oh how we praise and thank thee
for such privilege we commit ourselves to thee
this evening trusting thy Holy Spirit to open
thy word to our hearts to convict us
to convince us to bring us to that
place without able to do anything everything that
thou does desire to do in our midst
tonight and to thee be all the praise
and glory in the name of our Lord
Jesus in
the fullness of time God sent his only
begotten son into this world but before his
son was sent into this world God first
sent a man six months ahead of his
son and this man's name was John John
was the forerunner of Christ he was sent
by God to prepare the way for his
son John King he bore witness to
Christ to the Son of God that is
coming into this world it is a voice
in the wilderness it is a prophetic voice
it is a voice that stirred not only
Jerusalem but Judea and all around Jordan why
because before that voice was raised for 400
long years God was silent to his people
the last voice that was heard by the
children of Israel was heard 400 years before
this time he was the voice of the
Prophet Malachi but after God spoke through the
Prophet Malachi for 400 long years God didn't
say a word to his own people not
because God did not want to speak to
his own people but because God could not
speak to his own people and if God
could not speak to his own people whom
could he speak to?
Outwardly the remnant of the Jews had returned
to the promised land.
Outwardly the temple in Jerusalem was rebuilt.
Outwardly even the city of Jerusalem was rebuilt.
Outwardly for 400 years the priesthood was restored.
Outwardly for 400 years there were sacrifices offered
in the Holy Temple.
Outwardly the Jews, the remnant, the people who
returned to the promised land seemed to be
a most godly people.
Why?
Because they not only kept the law of
Moses in sacrificing in the temple but they
also have many synagogues all over the land.
They not only worship God in the temple
and offer sacrifices there but they also worship
God in all these synagogues scattered all over
the land.
Outwardly they were a most religious, pious, godly
people.
But God was silent.
God could not speak to his people for
400 long years.
Then suddenly a voice in the wilderness.
God spoke again to his people and no
wonder that voice electrified the whole nation.
People just went out to the wilderness to
hear that prophet.
John bore witness to the one who was
coming.
The Jews sent priests and Levites to John
and said, who are you?
Are you the Messiah, the Christ that we
have been waiting all these years?
John said, no, I'm not the Christ.
Are you the prophet Elijah?
God promised that one day the prophet Elijah
will come back to prepare the way of
Messiah.
Are you the prophet Elijah?
He said, no.
Are you the prophet that was prophesied in
Deuteronomy by Moses saying that one day among
the brethren God will raise up a prophet
and you must hear him because if you
do not you shall perish.
Are you that prophet?
He said, no, I'm not.
Of course these people were puzzled.
You are not Christ?
You are not Elijah?
You are not that prophet?
Then who are you?
Tell us who are you?
And he said, I'm just a voice.
I'm a voice in the wilderness as it
is written in Isaiah.
A voice in the wilderness to prepare the
way of the Lord.
Then people asked him, if you are not
the Christ, if you are not Elijah, if
you are not the prophet, if you are
just a voice in the wilderness, why do
you baptize people with water?
And he said, I baptize people with water
but there is one among you that is
greater, much greater than I am.
I'm not even worthy to unloose his sandal.
This was the witness of John concerning Christ
Jesus.
And the next day the Lord Jesus passed
by.
And when John the Baptist saw the Lord
Jesus passing by, that voice was raised again,
behold the Lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world.
This is the one that is going to
baptize not with water but with the Holy
Spirit.
The testimony that John the Baptist gave to
our Lord Jesus is a most complete testimony.
It is a threefold testimony.
Number one, he testified that the Lord Jesus
is the Lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world.
This Son of God who came into this
world, He came as God's Lamb.
And of course with the Jews, at that
time they understood very well what a Lamb
means.
Because for many, many years they have been
offering lamb to God.
Not only on the day of Passover, every
family must prepare a lamb without spot, without
any blemish, and they must offer a lamb
for each family to celebrate, to remember the
day when they were in Egypt.
How God delivered them out of Egypt by
that Paschal Lamb.
The blood of the Lamb was put on
the doorpost and the lintel.
And the whole family will be gathered behind
the blood in the house.
And at midnight when the destroyer passed through
the whole land of Egypt, if there was
no blood on the door, the destroyer would
go in and slay the firstborn of every
family.
Not only of men but even of animals.
God delivered the children of Israel by the
Lamb.
So on the day of Passover they offer
lamb to God, remembering that by the blood
of the Lamb they were delivered.
But not only that, you find that they
offer the Lamb every morning and every evening.
In other words, thousands, tens of thousands of
lambs have been offered to God through all
these years.
But suddenly the voice came, Behold the Lamb
of God.
All the blood of the Lamb and bullets
that were sheathed could not take away sin.
They only cover sin for a while.
But here, the Lamb of God, God prepared
that Lamb in the person of His beloved
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
And in that Lamb of God, God took
away the sin of the world.
This is why our Lord Jesus came into
this world, as the Lamb of God, to
take away the sin of the world.
Once upon a time when that great preacher
Spurgeon, you know Spurgeon was one of the
greatest preachers that the world had ever had.
He had a golden mouth and a silver
tongue.
And one day he was going to have
a campaign in the Crystal Palace in London.
The Crystal Palace in London was a huge
auditorium.
And it was before the day that they
had microphone.
So before the campaign, Charles Spurgeon, he went
to the Crystal Palace, trying to test his
voice.
To see that if his voice would carry
through the whole auditorium.
So he was there testing his voice.
He cried out and said, Behold the Lamb
of God who takes away the sin of
the world.
And after a while, he tested again.
Behold the Lamb of God.
His voice reached to the end of the
auditorium.
He didn't know that a carpenter, a worker
was on the roof, repairing the roof.
And this worker was deeply troubled by his
sin.
He was convicted by the Holy Spirit of
his sins.
And he was just wondering how could his
sins be forgiven.
He was asking God, God, speak to me,
say to me, how can my sins be
forgiven.
And while he was praying, suddenly he heard
a voice, Behold the Lamb of God who
takes away the sin of the world.
But he didn't know whether it was God's
voice.
He said, Say it again.
And the voice came, Behold the Lamb of
God.
And there on the roof, this man was
saved.
O dear brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus
is the Lamb of God.
He takes away the sin of the world.
There is no need for any sinner to
die.
Why?
Because the Lamb of God has taken upon
Himself the sin of the world.
There is no sin that is too great
for Him to wash away the precious blood
of the precious Lamb of God.
But the testimony of John concerning our Lord
Jesus is more than just that He is
the Lamb of God.
As the Lamb of God, anyone who believes
in Him, his sins are forgiven.
He will receive eternal life.
Thank God for this marvelous, wonderful Savior and
His salvation.
But John bore witness to the Lord Jesus
and said, He is more than the Savior
of the world.
The Lord Jesus is also the baptizer with
the Holy Spirit.
O yes, our Lord Jesus not only died
on the cross and by His shed blood
our sins are forgiven, but our Lord Jesus
is also the baptizer.
John baptized people with water unto repentance, but
the Lord Jesus baptized His people with the
Holy Spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters, do you know that
our Lord Jesus is the baptizer with the
Holy Spirit?
To be baptized with the baptism of John
is unto repentance.
But to be baptized with the baptism that
our Lord Jesus will baptize us with the
Holy Spirit is unto union.
Not only union with Him as our head,
but to be united with all those who
are redeemed of the Lord as members of
the body of Christ.
You remember in Acts chapter 2, on the
day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came and
the hundred and twenty that were gathered in
that upper room, they were baptized in one
Spirit.
And when that happened, the whole city was
stirred.
People came to them, they were wondering what
was happening, because everyone was speaking their native
tongues.
Tongues that were spoken by people that came
from all over the world.
In other words, people that came from all
over the world heard their native tongues were
being spoken, magnifying the Lord.
They were wondering what had happened.
And you remember Peter stood up with the
eleven and explained what had happened.
And at the end of his explanation, in
Acts chapter 2, he said, This Jesus has
God raised up whereof all we are witnesses.
Having therefore been exalted by the right hand
of God, and having received of the Father
the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has
poured out this which ye behold and hear.
God has raised the Lord Jesus up from
the dead, and the Lord Jesus has ascended
upon high, He has been exalted by the
Father, and has received from the Father the
promise of the Holy Spirit, and He has
poured down the Holy Spirit which you behold
and hear.
This is what happened.
Let the whole house of Israel therefore know
assuredly that God has made Him, this Jesus,
whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
What is the meaning of the baptism with
the Holy Spirit?
What the baptism with the Holy Spirit does
for us?
Number one, by the baptism in the Holy
Spirit, we see that Jesus is Lord and
Christ.
We see that He is the head over
all things to His body.
Number two, the meaning of the baptism with
the Holy Spirit is explained in 1 Corinthians
chapter 12 verse 13.
For in one spirit ye were baptized into
one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, and ye
were made to drink of one spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters, when we receive our
Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God, we
are saved individually.
But with the baptism in the Holy Spirit,
we were being baptized into one body, with
Christ as our head, and we become members
one of another.
Our Lord Jesus is the baptizer.
He is not only our Savior, He is
our baptizer.
He has baptized you and me, individuals, to
become members of one body.
Now, what a difference that is!
Before the day of Pentecost, you find a
hundred and twenty believers, and maybe the best
of the believers at that time.
Certainly the best.
You know, when our Lord Jesus, after our
Lord Jesus was raised from the dead, at
one time He appeared to five hundred brethren.
Probably that happened on Mount Olive.
When our Lord Jesus ascended to heaven, probably
five hundred brethren saw Him going up.
But unfortunately, only a hundred and twelve remained
in Jerusalem for ten days, praying with one
accord.
These hundred and twelve were the elite, were
the best among the believers, and yet there
are a hundred and twenty individual believers.
If you take every one of them out
and look at them, they are just beautiful.
But when you put a hundred and twenty
together, well, ten days may be alright, a
hundred days will be like hell.
But on the day of Pentecost, the Holy
Spirit came, they were baptized in one spirit,
and they become one body.
No longer a congregation of a hundred and
twenty members, but a body of a hundred
and twenty members.
What a difference!
O brothers and sisters, do you see the
Lord Jesus as the baptizer?
You know the Lord Jesus as the Lamb
of God.
Thank God for that.
But do you know the Lord Jesus as
the baptizer?
Don't you know that you were baptized by
Him with the Holy Spirit?
Don't you know that you are no longer
just an individual believer, that you can live
independently, isolatedly, all by yourself, shut up the
door and be a good Christian?
You cannot do it.
Why?
Because you were baptized by the baptizer, our
Lord Jesus, into one body.
You cannot do without Him, because He is
your head.
And you cannot do without me, because I
am your member.
And of course, I cannot do without you.
Don't you see that our Lord Jesus is
the baptizer with the Holy Spirit, and you
were baptized already?
Thank God we are one body.
Members, one of another.
But the testimony of John go and even
further.
John said, Our Lord Jesus, this is the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world.
John said, He is the one who will
baptize with the Holy Spirit.
Oh, but he said more.
He said, The one who takes the bride
is the bridegroom.
In other words, he testified that the Lord
Jesus is the bridegroom.
Not only the Lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world, not only
the baptizer with the Holy Spirit to baptize
us into one body under one head, but
He is the bridegroom.
And He is the one who is to
take the bride.
What a perfect testimony that is.
Do you not know that our Lord Jesus
came into this world for one reason?
Now it is true, you'll find it is
said, the Lord said, the Son of Man
came into this world to seek and to
save the lost.
That's true.
It is true that the Lord Jesus does
baptize us with the Holy Spirit, that He
might have a body.
That's true.
But why is it that He became the
Lamb of God?
Why is it that He saves us?
Why is it that He baptizes us with
the Holy Spirit, that we may become one
body?
Why?
Oh, you know the reason why.
The reason is, He is the bridegroom.
And what will be to the bridegroom if
he does not have a bride?
The reason why our Lord Jesus came into
this world is to find His bride.
That is why.
When He was on earth, He was the
Lamb of God.
Now He is in heaven.
He is the baptizer with the Holy Spirit,
because He baptized the church with the Holy
Spirit after He ascended on high.
And one day, when He shall return, He
will take His bride to Himself.
You know, the apostle John, his ministry is
very different from the ministry of other apostles.
The apostle John, his ministry is the ministry
of the ultimate.
With John, he always goes back to the
beginning, and he always goes on to the
end, the ultimate.
If you really want to know why the
Lord Jesus came into this world, read the
gospel according to John.
Now, I do not say, if you read
the gospel according to Luke, you will not
know why the Lord Jesus came into the
world.
Because if you read the gospel according to
Luke, you will find the Lord Jesus came
into the world to save the lost.
That is why He came.
But if you read the gospel according to
John, you discover something.
You discover the ultimate, the eternal will of
God in sending His Son into this world.
Now, why did the Lord Jesus come into
this world according to the gospel of John?
It is because He is the bridegroom.
And as the bridegroom, He came into this
world to find His bride.
From John chapter 1 through John chapter 12,
you will find that this bridegroom had come
into this world, but the bride was nowhere
to be found.
It was almost like Adam.
Adam was in the garden of Eden, and
God let all the animals passing through him.
And he saw all these animals, the giraffe,
and the elephant, and the crocodile, and Hippopotamus.
And he saw all these animals passing by,
you know, but he could not find his
bride.
That bride had to be created, had to
be built.
And the same thing with our Lord Jesus.
He came into this world with the one
purpose of finding a bride for Himself.
But there the bride was nowhere, non-existent.
And because of this, He had to create
that bride.
Oh, if you read the gospel of John
with that perspective, how beautiful it is.
Here you will find He touched this man,
He touched that woman.
Oh, and you will find that He was
talking with Nicodemus, that religious, that rabbi of
Israel, that great theologian.
And yet He discussed with that great theologian
on new birth, the very basic.
And then you will find our Lord Jesus
had a conversation with a Samaritan woman, that
wicked, sinful woman, and yet He discussed with
her on this matter of worship, the highest
of the gospel.
There you will find He healed a man
that was sick for thirty-eight years, and
it was because he sinned terribly.
So after the Lord healed him, the Lord
warned him, saying, Say no more.
And there you will find our Lord Jesus,
how He saved a woman that was caught
in adultery.
And there you will find our Lord Jesus
stood on a high place and cried, Anyone
who is thirty, come to me and have
the water.
And the water shall flow from him as
rivers of living water.
And there you will find our Lord Jesus,
how He healed a man that was born
blind.
How He recalled Lazarus from the dead.
Here you will find our Lord Jesus touched
this one and that one, and all are
all different conditions.
And yet here you will find He was
gathering a people to Himself.
From chapter thirteen to chapter seventeen, you will
find there He gathered with His own.
And there He told them that when the
Holy Spirit shall come, they will discover that
as He was in the Father and the
Father is in Him, so they shall be
in Him and He shall be in them.
And how He prayed that they may be
one, and not only they, but all those
who believe in the Lord Jesus through them,
may be one as He and the Father
are one.
One body.
That's the gospel according to John.
Out of His sight come blood and water
to build the body.
And if you read the epistles of John,
the epistles of John tells us how this
body is being built.
So that this body may be matured.
You know you cannot have marriage if the
bride is still unmatured.
So here you will find according to John's
ministry in his epistles, you will find it
in the epistles of John, you will find
how this body is being matured, grown up.
And then in the book of Revelation, when
the wife has made herself ready, the bridegroom
came to claim His bride.
This is the testimony.
One day, John was baptizing people, and the
Lord Jesus and His disciples were also baptizing
people.
Actually it wasn't Jesus who was baptizing people,
it was His disciples.
And yet here you will find a disciple
of John had a discussion with a Jew
about purification.
And this disciple of John came to John
the Baptist, and he was really envious and
jealous for his master.
So he came to John and said, Master,
the one whom you baptize, and whom you
bear witness to, now He is also baptizing
people, and people are going to Him.
You are losing ground now.
How about that?
And here you listen to what John said.
John said, I told you I am not
the Christ.
He that has the bride is the bridegroom.
But the friend of the bridegroom who stands
and hears Him rejoices in heart because of
the voice of the bridegroom.
This my joy then is fulfilled.
Who is this John the Baptist?
Yes, he is a voice in the wilderness,
but he is also the friend of the
bridegroom.
Unfortunately, today we do not really know for
sure about the marriage procedures among the ancient
Hebrews.
We knew a little bit, but somehow we
are not able to put them together into
a complete picture.
So I have to apologize tonight that I
am not able to find in all the
references that I could, I am not able
to find a way to really put everything
together and show you how among ancient Hebrews
this matter of marriage was being done.
But we need a few things.
Number one, of course, with the Hebrews, with
the Jews, they consider marriage as a very
important thing.
They thought that marriage is the normal life
of a man.
According to Talmud, it says that a Jew
who is not married is not a man.
They look upon this married life as the
most normal life and they also even look
at marriage as more than the union of
a man and a woman.
According to their belief, according to the rabbinical
writings, they consider that whenever a marriage is
consummated between a Jew and a Jewish, it
is a representation of the union of God
with Israel.
So you find how they look upon marriage
as a most holy and sacred matter.
And in a Jewish marriage, the first thing
is the betrothal, the engagement.
Now today in this country, engagement is almost
nothing.
But among the Jewish people in the old
days, the betrothal, the engagement is part of
the marriage procedure.
And it is the most binding part.
Because when a man and a woman were
engaged, they were considered before the law as
husband and wife.
The only thing that they haven't done was
they did not live together.
But before the law, they were considered as
already belong to each other.
So first thing, they will have that ceremony
of betrothal.
And on that day, the man will give
a piece of money or a letter saying
that he will take the woman to be
his.
And there the most important thing in an
engagement is, of course, the dowry.
But the dowry was not paid to the
maiden, but to the parents of the maiden.
And usually, this betrothal will not last over
twelve months.
Within twelve months, there will be the marriage.
Now this is the part that we are
not too clear about.
Because from all the references that I can
look into, it seems to me, now I'm
just putting it out, and if I'm wrong,
forgive me and correct me.
But from what I have learned, it seems
as if there is some confusion there.
Why?
Because in such a marriage situation, the most
important part is the wedding procession.
But it seems to me that there are
two wedding processions instead of one.
Otherwise, I just cannot reconcile all the records
that I looked into.
You know, usually, if I may put it
this way, I just put it before you,
but if the procedure is not correct, it's
alright, as long as when we apply it,
we'll find there's scriptural background to it.
So anyway, you'll find on the day of
marriage, the first thing will be the wedding
procession.
It usually happens in the night.
There you'll find the friend of the bridegroom.
You know, in a Jewish marriage, the friend
of the bridegroom is the go-between.
He is the one who will go to
the maiden's home and negotiate the marriage.
And on the day of marriage, the friend
of the bridegroom was the one who will
go to the paternal house of the bride.
He will lead the bride to the house
of the groom.
That is the job of the friend of
the bridegroom.
So there he was representing the bridegroom.
He went to the bride's house and usually
at night started the wedding procession.
There will be music, of course, and the
bride will be escorted by his bridesmaid and
his relatives.
You know, and even you'll find sometimes on
mules or sometimes porters will bear the furniture
and the things like that.
They will go into the husband's house and
as they proceed in the night with tortures
and things like that, of course, if it's
in the city, the whole city will be
stirred.
And people will all be standing on the
street or looking from the balcony and they
will be distributing wine and oil to people
and nuts to the children.
And it was almost a religious duty.
All the onlookers, when the wedding procession passed
by, it was almost a religious duty that
they have to praise the beauty, the merits
and the wealth of the bride.
And this will go on until they reach
the house of the bridegroom.
Now that's where the confusion came.
From what I can gather, when the bride
came to the bridegroom's house to be married,
the bridegroom was elsewhere.
He was not there.
He could not be there.
He had to stay in the home of
a relative or a friend.
And there he had his friend around him.
And they will be singing and maybe writing
poetry and celebrating the time, you know.
They will have a very good time together
until the bridegroom said, now we can start.
And usually it's almost midnight.
So here you'll find another procession began.
He was the bridegroom.
And there his friends were with him and
with torches and with lamps.
And they were start to go.
And as they start, go to the street
and on to his own house.
And of course, voices will be raised.
Behold, the bridegroom comes.
And this will be relayed and relayed and
relayed.
And you know, there was a bride waiting
there in the house after a very busy
day.
And the bridesmaid there, you know, they were
very busy and they were waiting and waiting.
They never know when the bridegroom will came.
And usually at midnight, some went to sleep.
And suddenly the voice arrived, the bridegroom coming.
And they all rose up.
Now that was the Bible story, right?
So after the bridegroom came and there will
be the marriage.
Actually, the real marriage was very simple.
And when the friend of the bridegroom heard
the voice of the bride, he said, I
am happy.
Why?
Because his duty is finished.
His mission is fulfilled.
Dear brothers and sisters, John said, I am
the friend of the bridegroom.
When I hear the voice of the bridegroom,
oh, my joy is filled.
Why?
Because I have fulfilled my mission.
He must increase, I must decrease.
Dear brothers and sisters, John, as the friend
of the bridegroom, he prepared the way for
the bridegroom.
He did all the preparation and the negotiations
until he was able to lead the bride
to the bridegroom's house.
How did he prepare the people?
Historically, we know that all the early disciples
of our Lord Jesus were disciples of John.
Those who rejected the baptism of John, rejected
Christ.
But those who received the baptism of John
unto repentance, they received the Lord Jesus, because
they were prepared.
They were led.
How did John prepare a prepared people for
Christ?
What is the message that God used him
to prepare the people?
When John cried in the wilderness, what did
he say?
Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has
drawn nigh.
Oh, brothers and sisters, for four hundred years,
God hasn't spoken to his people.
You remember in the days of Eli, it
is said that the word of God was
rare, and the vision was seldom.
Not that was bad enough.
But now you find at that time there
was absolutely no vision, no word, for four
hundred years.
Now maybe you think, how could the children
of Israel, how could the return to the
remnant, how could the Jews even exist, continue
to exist, for four hundred years, without the
word of God?
But they did.
Everything went on as usual.
In all outward appearance, they were amongst religious
people.
In a sense, it was a nation that
was waiting for the Messiah.
But when the Messiah came, they were frightened.
What was God's message to his people?
To prepare a prepared people for the Lord.
You find there is only one message, and
the message is repent.
Repent.
Dear brothers and sisters, it is a strange
voice.
You know, even in John's time, no wonder
the Pharisees and the scribes, they rejected the
message of John.
They rejected the baptism of John.
Why?
Because they thought that it was a wrong
message.
That message should be given to the Gentiles.
They need to repent.
We Jews, the chosen people of God.
We worship God.
We have the oracles of God in our
hand.
We offer sacrifices.
We are God's chosen people.
Do we need to repent?
No.
Probably we need to reform.
Probably we need to improve.
But certainly not to repent.
That's why they rejected that message, that voice.
What is repentance?
That word repent or repentance in Greek original,
it means a change of mind.
And that change of mind is a 180
degrees change.
Not just a little correction.
A little deviation.
But it is a turn around completely.
When you are going in one direction, you
have to turn around and go to the
other direction.
That's repentance.
And that is why John baptized people with
baptism.
Because what is baptism?
When you go into the water, you repented
of your past.
Your past sins, your past life, your past
success, your past moral achievement.
Everything that is yours, you considered as worthy
to die.
Buried out of sight.
And when you come out of the water,
a new person.
In other words, it is not reform.
It is not a change, a little change.
It is death, burial and resurrection.
Now that's repentance.
You need not only to repent of the
sins you have committed, you need to repent
of the good that you have done.
Now will you do that?
Is it wrong to offer sacrifices in the
temple?
God commanded us to do that.
Is it wrong to read the Torah, five
books of Moses?
Certainly God commanded us that we shall meditate
upon it.
Is it wrong to pray to God?
Certainly we should.
Is it wrong to go into synagogue to
assemble together?
Certainly they should.
Is it wrong to exhort one another, encourage
one another?
Certainly they should.
Repent, O brothers and sisters, but hear the
voice of God to the people, for preparing
the bride is repentance.
Even death had to be repented.
Why?
Because the kingdom of the heavens has drawn
nigh.
Repent, not because you have sinned.
Repent because the kingdom of the heavens is
coming.
All that you have done will not get
you into that kingdom.
You have to repent.
The time has changed.
The reality has come.
The shadows must pass away.
If you hold on to the shadow, you
will pass away.
Holding on to the shadow is a sin
that you have to repent.
Brothers and sisters, no wonder these Pharisees, no
wonder these scribes, oh how they rose up
against John and against him.
Once upon a time there was a great
convention.
All theologians, professors, gathered together for a convention
on Christian truth.
They discussed about different truths in the Bible.
And all these learned doctors, they wrote their
dissertations, and they read their dissertations, and one
of the topics was on repentance.
So these worthy or unworthy doctors of divinity,
they all wrote their great dissertations, and they
presented their dissertations to the audience.
But the more they presented their dissertations on
repentance, the more confused the people became.
Finally, an elderly missionary to the foreign field
retired.
His hair was white.
He was sitting at the back.
He was not a learned person, not a
theologian, just a missionary in the foreign land
for many, many years.
He listened, and listened, and he couldn't stand
it anymore.
So he raised his hand, and the chairman
said, what do you want?
He said, will you please give me five
minutes to speak on that subject.
And the chairman looked at that missionary, white
-haired missionary, and he knew this missionary was
not a learned doctor.
What could he say?
But because he was such a missionary in
the field for so many years, so out
of respect he said, alright, I'll give you
five minutes.
So this missionary got up from the chair.
He was at the very end of the
auditorium, and he began to start walking to
the platform.
And as he was walking, he shouted, I'm
going to hell!
I'm going to hell!
Oh, that electrified the whole audience.
People looked at this missionary.
He shouted all the way to the platform.
He got to the platform.
He turned around, faced the audience, raised his
two hands, he said, I am going to
heaven!
I'm finished.
This is repentance.
I think this is the best dissertation on
repentance.
What is repentance?
You were heading hell, now you turn around
and head in heaven.
That's repentance.
Brothers and sisters, how did John, as the
friend of the bridegroom, negotiate the marriage?
How did he prepare the people for Christ?
With the message of repentance.
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn
nigh.
And all those who repented came to the
Lord.
They eventually became the bride to the bridegroom.
Dear brothers and sisters, historically, of course, this
was already fulfilled.
John's mission was fulfilled.
Because he had prepared people for Christ.
So when they went to Christ, he lost
them.
But he was happy.
Because it was the bridegroom that had the
bride.
He wasn't holding anybody to himself.
I'm just a friend of the bridegroom.
Just a voice.
The voice will pass away.
But he shall remain forever.
Historically, it was already fulfilled.
But dear brothers and sisters, spiritually, in spiritual
application, do you know that in the time
of John the Baptist, the bridegroom was just
coming to the world to find his bride?
But today, we are approaching the day when
the bridegroom will return to claim his bride.
And do you not think that as the
marriage day is so close, that the negotiation
has to be more intense?
That the preparation has to be more intense?
Do you not believe that there should be
people like John be raised up?
Now here I want you to use your
imagination.
Why?
Because it is true that we are the
virgins.
Those who are redeemed of the Lord are
the virgins.
We are the bride that the Lord is
coming to claim.
But in a sense, we are also the
friend of the bridegroom.
We are everything.
Because he is everything.
You know, so let us use our imagination.
Just think of that.
Here we are.
We are the friends of the bridegroom.
And what is our mission?
Our bridegroom has committed to us this matter
of negotiating, preparing, consummating a marriage relationship
between him and his church.
As the friends of the bridegroom, dear brothers
and sisters, we are supposed to prepare people
for the Lord.
When he shall come back, he shall find
the bride has made herself ready.
And how are we going to make the
wife?
What is the message of the day?
Dear brothers and sisters, I feel very deeply
in my heart that the message of the
day for God's people is repent.
For the bridegroom is coming.
Do we need to repent?
What is the message of the risen Lord
to his seven churches in Asia?
If you read Revelation chapter 2 and 3,
you will find that the message of the
Lord to his people out of seven churches,
five of them, his message to them is
repent.
Do we need to repent?
Do we appear as a very godly people?
Do we look like a very religious people?
Do we not meet every Lord's Day?
Do we not go to prayer meetings?
Do we not engage in Christian activities?
Are we not reading the Bible?
Are we not doing all these things?
If you want to find any people that
is religious, pious, godly, loving the Lord, maybe
you think we are that people.
But dear brothers and sisters, is God speaking
to you?
When is the last time that you hear
his voice?
When is the last time that you see
him?
I am not speaking of physically, I am
speaking of in your spirit.
Do you see him today?
Or would you say, five years ago I
was filled with the Holy Spirit, how about
today?
Do you see him?
Do you hear him?
Is your religious life become a routine, traditional?
There!
Repent!
Because you have lost your first love.
Your labor may go on, your knowledge is
with you, but where is your love?
Your first love to the Lord?
Oh, when you first love him, you don't
think of yourself, but now you think a
lot of yourself.
Repent if you have lost your first love.
Repent if you have loved the world, because
if you love the world, the love of
the Father is not in you.
The message of the Lord to the church
in Pergamos is repent, because the church has
mingled with the world.
You cannot see the difference between the world
and the church.
Are we separated?
Are we doing what the people of the
world are doing?
And even worse, are we seeking the things
that the people of the world are seeking?
Maybe worse, more.
Repent!
If we become so complicated that we have
lost the simplicity that is to Christ, the
church's entire hero.
Repent!
It may mean we are living, but actually
we are dead.
Repent!
If we have lost in touch with all
spiritual reality, we live an unreal Christian life.
We think we are rich, we think we
see, but we are blind, we are naked.
We have lost touch with reality.
O brothers and sisters, if the Lord shall
come tonight, will He find us ready for
Him?
Do you not think there is much in
us that needs to be paid?
Oh, that God's people may repent in dust
and ashes.
God dwells with a broken and contrite heart.
The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit.
A broken and a contrite heart, O God,
thou will not despise.
Where is that brokenness?
Where is that contrition among God's people?
Dear brothers and sisters, we are not ready
if we do not repent.
If we think we are better than other
people, if we think that we know more
than other people, if we think that we
have done more for the Lord than other
people, I am afraid we will be like
the Pharisees and the scribes.
I do believe the message of the Lord
for His people today is repent.
If we repent, He will receive us.
He will make us ready.
He will give us grace that we may
be clothed with bright shining linen, which is
the righteousness of the saint.
Dear brothers and sisters, as friends of the
bridegroom, let us raise that voice to God's
people, calling God's people to repentance.
We cannot go on like this because the
Lord is coming soon.
All the gorges must be filled.
All the mountains must be leveled.
All the crooked places must be straightened.
All the rough places must be smoothed.
Because the Lord is coming soon.
Oh, if we should hear the voice of
the bridegroom, our joy will be filled.
He must increase.
We shall pray.
Oh, our cry to Thee tonight is, may
that voice be heard.
May Thy people repent.
May Thy people have a broken and contrite
heart.
May Thy people look to Thee, wait for
Thee, ready for Thee, in Thy precious Name.